I enjoyed the sequel more- I am wondering why "More sex and the single mom" isn't on this site yet. I'd more so like to comment on that. At least this movie had more of a conclusion. I wish, however, that Miss Panabaker would have been in the sequel. There was nothing at all wrong with the new actress, but I would have rather seen the original actress play the part. I'd also like to know who played the new Sarah, and also I'd like to know who played the devilishly handsome Gabe. I don't think that I've ever seen either one of them before. Gail and Grant really pull off the chemistry just like in the first one. I definitely enjoyed the sequel more.
8 Reviews
In No Way Resembles Real Life, but Still Cheesy Fun
sophybliss9 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this one when it came out, then again last night with the new sequel, and just had to comment.
I really like Gail O'Grady and I think she does a good job with her character. The daughter is also well played and is a fairly realistic portrait of some 15 year olds (I have one myself, fortunately she has a much better self concept than Sara!) The situation is interesting, with Jess being a little more than mildly hypocritical, and Grant Show is certainly nice to look at. Those are the good parts...
On the bad side, Jess's neighbor is not to be believed. I don't know ANY moms who would let their teenage son, in the age of AIDS and other nasty STDs, "do it" at home because "he's going to do it somewhere". Give me a break.
Then there's the whole unbelievably rosy "I can do it all" ending. SURE, ANYONE can have a baby, go to law school, and continue their successful paralegal career uninterrupted! SURE, EVERY 15 year old is willing to sacrifice her all-important social schedule to care for Mom's new baby and, sure, good old Grandma will gladly sacrifice her peaceful golden years to babysit that little guy every day! We'll just buy two of everything and she'll pitch right in. MY MOTHER would have been on the first plane out of town!!
Oh well, you have to take it for what it is: a guilty pleasure. Lifetime Movies are kind of like junk food: you know they can't POSSIBLY be good for you, but you just can't help yourself!!
I really like Gail O'Grady and I think she does a good job with her character. The daughter is also well played and is a fairly realistic portrait of some 15 year olds (I have one myself, fortunately she has a much better self concept than Sara!) The situation is interesting, with Jess being a little more than mildly hypocritical, and Grant Show is certainly nice to look at. Those are the good parts...
On the bad side, Jess's neighbor is not to be believed. I don't know ANY moms who would let their teenage son, in the age of AIDS and other nasty STDs, "do it" at home because "he's going to do it somewhere". Give me a break.
Then there's the whole unbelievably rosy "I can do it all" ending. SURE, ANYONE can have a baby, go to law school, and continue their successful paralegal career uninterrupted! SURE, EVERY 15 year old is willing to sacrifice her all-important social schedule to care for Mom's new baby and, sure, good old Grandma will gladly sacrifice her peaceful golden years to babysit that little guy every day! We'll just buy two of everything and she'll pitch right in. MY MOTHER would have been on the first plane out of town!!
Oh well, you have to take it for what it is: a guilty pleasure. Lifetime Movies are kind of like junk food: you know they can't POSSIBLY be good for you, but you just can't help yourself!!
Enjoyable if not quite believable
jmatrixrenegade18 July 2004
I enjoyed this movie though did not quite find the whole thing that believable. I shall admit upfront that I'm not a single parent, a mom, or a woman for that matter, so I'm not expert on these matters. All the same, I think if someone actually chose to have a baby in the circumstances of this film, it would be a tad bit more difficult. And, it was convenient how the father of the baby disappeared around half way through the film. The film definitely had shades of Lifetime utopia.
Still, it was a good film on various levels. Gail O'Grady was very good as the lead, a single working mother (paralegal, going to law school, which I'd hope I could manage as she could!) of a teenager, who meets someone and enjoys the sexual side of the relationship. And, then, suddenly she becomes pregnant. The matter is complicated by an earlier miscarriage. The result, as noted, seemed a bit too good to be true, but the issues were dealt with in a pretty good fashion. O'Grady's skills as an actress made the film.
She also has to deal with her daughter, who is starting to develop sexual feelings of her own, and feels pressure to have sex. This is a quite real life issue, though it was handled a bit too smoothly here (the boy who turns out to be a jerk, predictable, though the ultimate result of her relationship with her friend has a nice twist to it). There is a good scene early on where the daughter examines her sexuality, one that must have made some moms sweat given the potential of the Internet. The daughter was played pretty well by the young actress here.
The film had some predictable "Lifetime touches," but seriously dealt with the issues, and Gail O'Grady was fine in the lead role. Worth catching the next time it's on Lifetime.
Still, it was a good film on various levels. Gail O'Grady was very good as the lead, a single working mother (paralegal, going to law school, which I'd hope I could manage as she could!) of a teenager, who meets someone and enjoys the sexual side of the relationship. And, then, suddenly she becomes pregnant. The matter is complicated by an earlier miscarriage. The result, as noted, seemed a bit too good to be true, but the issues were dealt with in a pretty good fashion. O'Grady's skills as an actress made the film.
She also has to deal with her daughter, who is starting to develop sexual feelings of her own, and feels pressure to have sex. This is a quite real life issue, though it was handled a bit too smoothly here (the boy who turns out to be a jerk, predictable, though the ultimate result of her relationship with her friend has a nice twist to it). There is a good scene early on where the daughter examines her sexuality, one that must have made some moms sweat given the potential of the Internet. The daughter was played pretty well by the young actress here.
The film had some predictable "Lifetime touches," but seriously dealt with the issues, and Gail O'Grady was fine in the lead role. Worth catching the next time it's on Lifetime.
2* is a stretch
caa8219 August 2008
Many Lifetime flicks contain the spouse with the "hidden past," the psychotic neighbor or babysitter or student, who usually whacks a few folks and at the climax wields a carving knife at the hero or heroine. Most of the balance of the network's offerings are like this one: all sorts of romantic, sexual and family angst amount the personnel in the cast.
Here, Gail O'Grady (moving-up on Meredith Baxter in this genre), and her daughter deal with all sorts of feminine romantic problems, but if there is any relationship to "real life," I didn't see it.
Everyone has problems, and they all have a significant depth to the person(s) dealing with them, and one has to deal with them as they occur, and proceed onward.
If real-life problems can sometimes occur in what might be termed "ten-foot square by a mile deep," Gail's problems here, as with most femme leads in this type of offering, seem to be "a mile wide and three feet deep." One follows another, and there is no way to empathize either with her or her daughter in any realistic manner.
And where the female characters here are shallow and somewhat vacuous, the males (typically on Lifetime) are doophuses, and (if possible) even more shallow.
The actors are pleasant in appearance, C-level in terms of material and performances, and while the subject matter is not unimportant, the way it is presented here is.
P.S. I saw this flick on a weekend morning. Was doing some other things, and another person was watching, and my fascination was in it mediocrity. The sequel, "More Sex..." had begun, and about a half-hour into it, I noticed the former lover who had impregnated her, and had earlier announced his returning to his wife (but only after "messing-up" the bed clothes with her in their hotel room) appeared at her door, announcing a now impending divorce. He was in process of wondering why she hadn't informed him of "his son," and wimping about, just as we had to leave. However, had I not had to leave the set then, I'd have changed channels. From this point I'd have preferred somebody stick a knitting needle into my eye rather than having to endure whatever the remaining 1-1/2 hours had in-store.
Here, Gail O'Grady (moving-up on Meredith Baxter in this genre), and her daughter deal with all sorts of feminine romantic problems, but if there is any relationship to "real life," I didn't see it.
Everyone has problems, and they all have a significant depth to the person(s) dealing with them, and one has to deal with them as they occur, and proceed onward.
If real-life problems can sometimes occur in what might be termed "ten-foot square by a mile deep," Gail's problems here, as with most femme leads in this type of offering, seem to be "a mile wide and three feet deep." One follows another, and there is no way to empathize either with her or her daughter in any realistic manner.
And where the female characters here are shallow and somewhat vacuous, the males (typically on Lifetime) are doophuses, and (if possible) even more shallow.
The actors are pleasant in appearance, C-level in terms of material and performances, and while the subject matter is not unimportant, the way it is presented here is.
P.S. I saw this flick on a weekend morning. Was doing some other things, and another person was watching, and my fascination was in it mediocrity. The sequel, "More Sex..." had begun, and about a half-hour into it, I noticed the former lover who had impregnated her, and had earlier announced his returning to his wife (but only after "messing-up" the bed clothes with her in their hotel room) appeared at her door, announcing a now impending divorce. He was in process of wondering why she hadn't informed him of "his son," and wimping about, just as we had to leave. However, had I not had to leave the set then, I'd have changed channels. From this point I'd have preferred somebody stick a knitting needle into my eye rather than having to endure whatever the remaining 1-1/2 hours had in-store.
Only half the story
jim-122529 September 2006
I watched 'More Sex & The Single Mom' on TV, and was curious about what went before. Fortunately, I was able to purchase 'Sex & The Single Mom' on DVD from the Amazon Marketplace at a reasonable price, which caused me no regrets after it was viewed.
This is not a salacious movie to titillate voyeurs. If I thought that was the case, the DVD would have been of no interest to me. Rather, it tells a tale of the natural desires and specific temptations faced by a divorced mother and her daughter. The key to my enjoyment of a movie of this nature is that the characters are both likable and plausible. Those criteria were more than adequately met. However, as a firm believer in marriage, no premarital sex and 'until death do us part', this movie does raise issues for me. Since judging others is not for us, but is God's prerogative, I will be pleased to watch this film again when time permits, especially as there was no noticeable bad language as far as I can remember.
I am glad I came to this after watching the subsequent events, as this film would have ended too inconclusively for my liking otherwise. 'Sex & The Single Mom' is clearly Part 1 of a bilogy. (! See my comment for 'More Sex & The Single Mom')
This is not a salacious movie to titillate voyeurs. If I thought that was the case, the DVD would have been of no interest to me. Rather, it tells a tale of the natural desires and specific temptations faced by a divorced mother and her daughter. The key to my enjoyment of a movie of this nature is that the characters are both likable and plausible. Those criteria were more than adequately met. However, as a firm believer in marriage, no premarital sex and 'until death do us part', this movie does raise issues for me. Since judging others is not for us, but is God's prerogative, I will be pleased to watch this film again when time permits, especially as there was no noticeable bad language as far as I can remember.
I am glad I came to this after watching the subsequent events, as this film would have ended too inconclusively for my liking otherwise. 'Sex & The Single Mom' is clearly Part 1 of a bilogy. (! See my comment for 'More Sex & The Single Mom')
Pleasently surprised
Adam_Brody_Luva25 January 2004
When I first saw a perview for this movie on Lifetime, I figured that it would just be another cheesy, fake, annoyingly dull Lifetime original. But because I had seen some rather intresting, and heartwarming originals, I decided to tune in. I remember lieing there in shock at how amazingly real the movie was, and how it really grasped onto some of the hardships of teen life. The lead girl, reminded me of me, Im a lot like her, and it surprised me at how real they made her character. Of course there was some scetchy scenes, like when the mother comes home, and finds her daughter in bed with her crush. It wasnt very realistic, and it seemed to be a very choppy part of the film. Other than that I suggest this movie to any teenagers who want to see a movie about real life, and that deals with issues that we really deal with. And I suggest it to adults who want to know what their kids are really doing. rateing 6 stars
Good show!
j1jenn18 February 2005
A Good movie though the script does get a bit hokey at times. It's not trying to change the world, just share a story. O'Grady & Show as the lead characters share quite an electrical chemistry & the 2 are a great pair on screen. It's as if they "know" each other! O'Grady is a beauty & Show is a babe! What a team! From a literary standpoint, there are some incredible themes and the filming of the parallel themes of the the mother rediscovering her sexuality while her daughter begins to discover hers, are well done. The mother/daughter relationship overtones, not just between O'Grady's character & her young teen, but between O'Grady & her mother, were interesting, realistic & could have been further pursued a bit. Over all, it's a chick flick, but a good flick!
A sad portrayel of a godless generation and dysfunctional families
LaPfieffer9210 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
im watching this movie, and it occurs to me that everything in this movie is just wrong. i don't mean just the main female characters problems, i mean EVERYBODY. everyones separated. going to God to help with problems, or trying to live the right way as God intended, is nowhere to be seen. the redheaded neighbor of the lead mom is one of those stupid free thinking former-hippie loose types that lets her son have sex as long as "its in the house". the conversation the lead mom has and says "what kind of parenting is this?" is spot on. that redhead mom is just creepy in her thinking. she then is all for the mom going through an abortion and is "shocked" when the mom says shes going to have the baby. as if its a weird thing to want to have a baby? i felt like that woman belonged in an episode of the twilight zone. then the redhead says the history teacher shes banging is going to move in. hmmm, ever just consider MARRIAGE you dirty hippy? the main character mother,i forget all there names, the blonde...she has more sense then anyone else in this ridiculous movie. she has the right idea, but made a mistake by giving into lust with a man she THOUGHT was single and divorced from his wife and would want to be with her. the guy who she was with just wanted sex in the end which is so typical. even though he uses the word "love" he still goes back to his wife and kids, WHICH would have noble IF he had not chosen to sleep with this blonde while out of town. to me that was a douchey move.
the dad of danielle panabaker seems like a nice guy but it makes me upset that No one in this movie seems to have tried to make the marriage work. from the sounds of it, it looks as if they all just had shotgun weddings and then a few years down the road just gave up. if any of these people in this movie tried to live as the Bible says and asked Christ for help and guidance, waited for marriage to have sexual intercourse, made sure they really loved the person to begin with, and REALLY TRIED to make the marriage work, well i don't think there would be any reason for this movie because these people would have stayed married and thus, no drama. but God is never spoken of, seems no one goes to church at all, and even Christmas time seems empty and joyless because these peoples lives are...empty and joyless. speaking of which, what kind of "Christmas" party is THAT? that looked more like a perversion of Christmas, people dancing, sex and swimming and bump and grind? eeesh, how terrible. the daughter, as typical of teenage idiots, wants the hot-but-jerky-douchebag guy and then finds him and her best friend doing it at the party! and then she feels "crushed" and surprised when the fact is her guy friend told her repeatedly how much of a jerk the guy is? seriously, this was pathetic. question: why is ANYONE shocked that anyone is cheating with anyone else? the movie seems chockful of cheaters and promiscuity. the kids are snots and just mean, the "rivalry" even between the very young stepmother of danielle panabaker is pretty nasty, and the movie in general gives you a sad view of life without God, without hope or without faith. no one trying to make things work, no one answers to a Higher Power, and thus, as should be expected, NOTHING works out in the end for these people. just sad.
the dad of danielle panabaker seems like a nice guy but it makes me upset that No one in this movie seems to have tried to make the marriage work. from the sounds of it, it looks as if they all just had shotgun weddings and then a few years down the road just gave up. if any of these people in this movie tried to live as the Bible says and asked Christ for help and guidance, waited for marriage to have sexual intercourse, made sure they really loved the person to begin with, and REALLY TRIED to make the marriage work, well i don't think there would be any reason for this movie because these people would have stayed married and thus, no drama. but God is never spoken of, seems no one goes to church at all, and even Christmas time seems empty and joyless because these peoples lives are...empty and joyless. speaking of which, what kind of "Christmas" party is THAT? that looked more like a perversion of Christmas, people dancing, sex and swimming and bump and grind? eeesh, how terrible. the daughter, as typical of teenage idiots, wants the hot-but-jerky-douchebag guy and then finds him and her best friend doing it at the party! and then she feels "crushed" and surprised when the fact is her guy friend told her repeatedly how much of a jerk the guy is? seriously, this was pathetic. question: why is ANYONE shocked that anyone is cheating with anyone else? the movie seems chockful of cheaters and promiscuity. the kids are snots and just mean, the "rivalry" even between the very young stepmother of danielle panabaker is pretty nasty, and the movie in general gives you a sad view of life without God, without hope or without faith. no one trying to make things work, no one answers to a Higher Power, and thus, as should be expected, NOTHING works out in the end for these people. just sad.
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